Date: Sun, 10 Apr 1994 12:46:43 -0700 Reply-To: Selma McCrory <94smccro@ultrix.uor.edu> Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Selma McCrory <94smccro@ULTRIX.UOR.EDU> Subject: These Daughters, 3/5 Well, apparently I was not thinking on Saturday when I sent part 2 and sent it before I did my final formatting. I formatted it properly after I sent it. If anyone wants a part 2 formatted like the rest of the story, just email me and I'll send it to you. ---------------------------------------------------------- These Daughters and These Sisters by Selma McCrory part 3 Later that day, Greer sat on the bench in the gym. She was still in her fencing outfit. She was gratified to learn that Richie was not that far ahead of her. He did have the advantage of being in one place, with a teacher, when she had been struggling to practice what Alberta had taught her when she was on the road. She knew he was envious that she had taken her first head. However, she also knew that it was an experience that she would have gladly traded. She resisted glancing through the windows for the hundredth time in ten minutes. _Why can't I be free?_ The elevator door opened, and she saw Richie come out of it. She slowly rose, and met him at the center of the room. "Hey, Greer, you're still in that outfit? Mac's going to be down any minute. He's taking us out to practice." Greer gave him a slight smile. She said, "I'll be a minute." "What's wrong?" She nodded towards the windows. "I was watching for them." "Them?" Richie asked, puzzled. "You know, _them_. The ones that watch us." "You mind them?" "Very much, I'm afraid. I may have been a Watcher once, but I'm sure that I don't want to be followed around by people with blue tattoos for the rest of my life," she said bitterly. "Let me get this straight. You're worried about them watching you?" "Well, I'm sure that while they're not out to kill us, something is probably going on. I don't mean that all of them are evil people trying to exploit us - quite a few of them are also my friends. But you get to wondering, why all of us, keeping such a close eye. I mean, why do we follow so close?" "Hate to interrupt your musings, but we got to go soon," Richie said. She saw his eagerness to leave the subject. "You should be worried about them." "I do worry sometimes, but hey, they don't know about me, and even if they did, Mac says that we can't do anything about them, so ignore them." "They do." "They do? Oh, great." She shrugged coolly, pleased to see that the information had ruffled him. "Sorry to break the news, but I saw one on your tail when I ran into you outside the mall. I supposed I'm hypersensitized to seeing them." She saw that he looked downed by the news. She gave him a sympathetic smile. "Well," she said, "I think I'll change now. See you in a few minutes." She headed up the stairs, thankful that the gym was closed that day. She needed the quiet. * * * The clearing was beautiful in the sunlight. She liked being there, and was glad that he had this place to work out in. Considering she had been expecting the warehouse, it was a treat. She and Richie were sitting on the ground, taking a break from practice. She was glad for the rest. Her muscles were sore from practicing so much. Her sword lay nearby, in its scabbard. Though she didn't like using it very much, she knew that it would, someday, be a part of her. "You've really got the hang of this," Richie said. She shrugged. "I've certainly watched enough swordfights. I have some idea of what to do." "How are things going with Joe?" Duncan asked from nearby. He was tired too, she could tell. She remembered when they were training, and Duncan had not let her get near him. She caught herself nearly crying once or twice, but thought, _Why should I expect anything different from him? He has no reason to trust me._ "I don't entirely trust him, but he seems to want to be doing something nice. He is a good man though, no matter his, um, profession." "Sometimes I wonder if they are good." "There are good people among us. The ones that would not dream of hurting someone, who spend their lives recording a miracle. I don't mind them so much. It's the ones that mean us harm in one way or another that I really mind." "Even the good ones," Duncan said slowly, "do wrong." "I won't argue with you there," Greer said. "I'm sure that what I have done is wrong. I can see that now. But many of us can't. I'm not asking you to trust us. I am just asking that you understand." Duncan nodded, but the distrust never left his eyes. "I'm not a Watcher anymore." "I know," he said. He gazed at her for a few quiet moments. "What?" "Do you truly realize that?" She glared at him. "Look, I've had it! I realize that you've had some problems with the Watchers. Right now, I feel entirely sympathetic. I still cling on, though. Can you understand what it feels like to break from all that you know, because you have changed in some way? I didn't want to leave the Watchers, even after my death. They were my life. Now I don't fit with them, and I don't fit in here. You're not helping very much, you know." Duncan was silent for a moment, and then said simply, "I'm sorry." "Yeah, I am too," she said. She paused for a moment before speaking agian. "Duncan?" "What?" "Can you do something for me?" "What do you need, and why?" "Well," she said, a small smile on her face. "I want Joe to hurry up with what he's doing for me, which is seeing if what I said is true. He's afraid of us arguing, and me disappearing before he has a chance to watch me more. So, he might try dangling some results in front of my face to entice me to stay. If you and I would have an argument, he would come up with results faster. Would you help me?" She watched Duncan as he plainly thought about it. "All right, I'll try." * * * "Greer? Greer!" a man's voice shouted above the din. Greer swung around fast, nearly whacking her shoulder on the post with the bus stop sign on it. "Robert?" she asked, making out his shape in the slightly dimming daylight. He was leaning against a parked car. "What are you doing here?" "A friend of a friend told me that they'd found you here, so I came to see you. And apologize for the incident in the park a couple months ago." "Well, thank you," she said. She was really at a loss for words. "Listen, I know this wonderful little coffeeshop here and I'd really like to catch up with you. I'll even pick up the tab." She laughed. "You better this time, 'little brother'." He apparently wasn't expecting her response. "Geez, you haven't changed a bit, Greer!" "I better not have. Let's go." * * * on to part 4... Selma McCrory "Maybe what the world needs 94smccro@ultrix.uor.edu are more Selmas." selmamc@aol.com -Time Trax =========================================================================